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A married doctor who secretly recorded upskirt footage of a female student in the street was placed on an 18-month probation on Tuesday.

James Chiang Chi-sum, 34, an anaesthesiologist at Queen Mary Hospital, filmed the underwear of a female student in Sai Wan last February by following her while carrying his bag that had its zip open and three cameras inside.

The Eastern Court heard during the trial that Chiang tried to flee after being caught red-handed by two plain clothes police officers. Upskirt images of other women were found on the cameras’ memory cards.

Principal Magistrate Bina Chainrai found Chiang guilty of one charge of behaving in a disorderly manner in a public place and one charge of resisting a police officer who is executing his duty.

Chiang’s lawyer said in mitigation on Tuesday the offence committed by his client “caused no distress” as the victim was not aware and her face was not captured by the camera.

The court also heard that Chiang, commended by his colleagues as a good doctor "that takes 12 years to train", had been suspended from duty by the hospital since July last year, losing more than HK$1 million in income.

At an earlier hearing, in November last year, Magistrate Adriana Tse said she did not believe it was Chiang's first time taking such footage, as he had three cameras in his bag. She said she would give no preferential treatment to him because of his profession and said he was "not suitable to be a doctor".

The defence had argued that Chiang had been mentally unstable due to stress and worries after his mother had a traffic accident in December 2012. He moved back to take care of her but was not joined by his wife.

Chainrai said in her judgement on Tuesday that background reports showed Chiang was a filial son and a hard-working doctor with good academic achievements. She gave the probation after considering that Chiang had expressed remorse, was "in a single fall from grace” and was “unlikely to commit the offence again".

During the probation, Chiang is required to receive psychological treatment. He is also ordered to pay HK$2,000 in court fees.